Combination carton and tray for paper



June 20, 1961 R. R. BUTLER COMBINATION CARTON AND TRAY FOR PAPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 22, 1958 INVENTOR. RALPH R. BUTLER ATTORNEY June 20, 1961 R. R. BUTLER COMBINATION CARTON AND TRAY FOR PAPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 22, 1958 INVENTOR. RALPH R. BUTLER ATTORNEY United StatesPatentO 2,989,221 COMBINATION CARTON AND 'IlRAY FOR PAPER Ralph R. Butler, Eric, Pa., assignor to Hammermill Paper Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Sept. 22, 1958, Ser. No. 762,550 1 Claim. (Cl. '229-15) This invention relates to boxes and, more particularly, to cartons having special utility for packing and shipping packages, especially paper packed in stacks of sheets. 1

The art of corrugated fiberboard boxes is active and quite well developed. Boxes made of this material are in constant use for a variety of packing, storing, handling, and shipping purposes. Various designs of boxes and cartons have been designed but most of these designs are not particularly convenient, easy, or quick to open and when packages of paper are shipped in these cartons, it has been difficult to remove the packages of paper from the cartons after-the cartons have been opened. Many of the prior cartons are at least partially destroyed when they are opened and, therefore, they are not suitable for reuse. Often, the cover of the box cannot be reclosed satisfactorily for storage after the box has been opened. 1 It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide an improved car-ton wherein a flap on the cover overlies a part of the front of the carton and this flap is sealed along an outside edge by means of a special glue which will provide a firm bond in a sidewise or longitudinal direction, i.e., in shear but weak in tension. This will .hold the flap firmly in place during shipment and will keep the flap from sliding up vertically and thereby maintain the top of the carton in a firmly closed position. The special glue may havean easy opening feature in that it will break apart very easily when the flap is lifted 35 away from thecarton to which it is glued, thereby subjecting the glue to a tensile force while the forces thereon normally encountered in use are predominantly in shear.

As compared with the previous designs of cartons which require a considerable effort to open, the carton disclosed herein can be opened in a much shorter time and with little elfort since ODJIY a single side edge is necessary to be opened as compared with the effort re- ,quired to openglued flaps of the ordinary carton which .rnust be opened by ripping the cardboard of the flaps or ripping tear strips from several sides of the carton.

Another important advantage of the present invention,-in addition to the feature of ease, convenience, simplicity of opening, and naturalness of lifting one corner :ofa single flap to open the carton corner over'the effort necessary by way of tugging, pulling, and jerking to open previous cartons, is the solution of an additional problem in removing the contents from the previous cartons in that with these previous cartons, it was often necessary to either turn the carton around as the operator tore the strip on all four sides or the operator had to walk around all four sides of the carton as he tore the strip. The present invention obviously obviates the necessity of walking around the carton since the glued flap can f be lifted byi-the operator from a position in front of the carton.

Another serious problem in the use of previous cartons was found inremoving the contents therefrom. In previous cartons containing packages of paper whichfit lgsfnugly in the cartons, it was often necessary to invert the cartons and'shake the paper out of the cartons. Due to the snug fit of the paper inthe carton, it acted, in effect, like the piston of an air pump in a cylinder and a partial vacuum was formed behind the paper. Considerable strength was required to lift, invert, and shake the carton. In the present invention, an elevator or Patented June 20, 1961 ice tray is provided which is cut from the waste board left over from stamping out the blank to form the carton. This elevator is used to remove half of the cut sized reams which are packed in the carton.

The weight of the contents of the carton also presents a problem. It is common practise to ship fifty pounds of paper in the carton. This weight is too heavy for the ordinary ofiice girl who is likelg to use the paper to carry. Thenormal procedure with previous cartons was for the operator to open the carton and carry a few reams from it at a time. The present carton and tray permit a part of the contents to be conveniently removed. The lift out tray permits an operator to carry approximately half of the contents of the carton as opposed to carrying an uncertain or varying number of loose individual reams. The danger of dropping the loose reams was ever present in previous cartons. Further, the present tray makes a convenient carrying means whereby the weight of the paper is supported from the operators arm at a convenient position. Thishelps prevent dropping individual reams which often burst when dropped and thereby become scattered and damaged.

It is frequently desirable and convenient to store paper in the carton. Previous cartons were often destroyed when being opened or put in a condition that they were notvsuitable for storage and became unsightly for reuse. The present carton is not damaged when being opened and the carton is designed so that the flap can be tucked in to the insideof the carton when the carton is being used and, therefore, the carton becomes completely tousable in the simplest way possible without any retapin'g or regluing. I

When the usual ordinary carton is opened and the contents removed therefrom, the carton has no further utility and must be disposed of. The present carton finds many uses after the paper which it first contained ,is removed. The wholesaler who usually stores the full carton in his warehouse can remove one ream of paper at a time and when the canton is empty, it can be reused for storing other paper. The carton is completely reusable.

The printer can remove the contents of the carton, print the paper, and repack it in the original carton for delivery to his customer. The customer can remove the paper as he uses the printed sheets, and retain the unused part in the carton as a file. The printer, wholesaler, and consumer can each use the carton to store all or parts of the paper received in the carton. Further, the consumer can remove the paper, use the carton for temporary files, or any otherconvenient office use. After the cartonis empty, it becomes a convenient storage device for storing documents, memoranda, and otfice equipment.

It is, more specifically, an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages and inconveniences of prior cartons and to provide a carton which is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simple and efficient to use.

Another object of the invention 'is to providean improved carton.

" Still another object of the invention is to provide a carton which is especially adapted to be reused.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in combination, an improved carton and tray therefor.

of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a carton according to the invention showing the carton closed and in the process of being opened;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the carton showing the tray being removed therefrom;

FIG. 3 shows the carton with the tray in position preparatory to closing the cover of the carton; and

FIG. 4 shows the blank from which the carton and tray are cut.

Now with more specific reference to the drawings, a carton is formed with ends 11 and 12, a front wall 14, a rear wall 15, a bottom 16, and a cover 17. The bottom 16 is made up of flaps 19, 20, 24, and 25. A cover flap 18 is integrally connected to the cover 17 along a scoring line 23 and the flap 18 is further scored at 23' to provide a more convenient flap arrangement.

It will be noted that the flaps 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, and 25 are integrally connected to the other elements of the carton 10 along scored lines 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, and 35 and the entire body of the carton 10 and tray 53 is formed from a single sheet of blank material. The ends 11 and 12, front wall 14, and rear wall 15 are connected along scored lines 28, 30, and 33. The only waste from the blank material is the part cut out between the flaps 21 and 22 and the front wall 14. A tiny piece is cut out from holes 42. A flap 61 is left attached at 62 and the flap 61 is forced through the hole 42 and reinforces the material at this point. Small pieces are left over at the end of the end 12 and a flap 60. The size of the waste piece may vary with the length of the carton, i.e., the length of the walls 14 and 15 relative to the depth of tray. Therefore, the carton is economical from a material utilization standpoint and the tray is an essential part of the present combination for convenient use of the carton as set forth. The carton 10 is cut from an L-shaped part of the blank and the tray 53 is cut from a waste piece at the side of the cover 17. The strip of material at the side of the cover 17 in the blank which would ordinarily be wasted can be conveniently utilized as the tray.

Incisions indicated at 44, 45, and 46 are indicated as slots but they will be, in fact, merely cuts through the cardboard material and the scored lines 26 to 35 will merely be compressed lines in the corrugated fiberboard from which the carton 10 is made, the type of which is familiar to those skilled in the art.

Ends 47 and 48 are preferably connected together by means of a strip of tape 49 along the material of the end 12 and the rear wall 15. This type of connection is preferred for the carton when it is to be used as set forth herein and has advantages as such; however, any other well known joist could be used.

In order to open the carton 10 when it is closed and sealed with the tray 53 folded in the position shown in FIG. 3, it is merely necessary for the operator to lift a corner 50 of the cover 17 as indicated in FIG. 1 as the cover flap 18 will be with adhesive material 51 which will be strong in shear but weak in tension. Some materials having such properties are found on ordinary drafting tape; however, many other adhesives having this property are well known to those skilled in the art of cartons and adhesives.

The tray 53is made up of a tray bottom 54, tray sides 55 and 56, tops 57 and 58, and flaps 59 and 60. The tray 53 has scored lines 38 and 39 which form the tray bottom 54. Scored lines 40 and 37 form sides 56 and 55, respectively. Further, scored lines 41 and 36 form the flaps 60 and 59, respectively.

The operator can insert his thumb under the cover 17 as indicated in FIG. 1 and lift a corner of the cover 17. Then he can lift the flap 18 completely away from the front wall 14 and open the cover 17 to the position shown in FIG. 2. Then he can put his fingers through the openings 42 and 43 as indicated in FIG. 2 and lift the tray 53 with half of the paper 52 from the carton 10.

It is customary in the trade to pack ten reams or approximately fifty pounds of paper in a carton and, therefore, the tray 53 would normally contain twenty-five pounds of paper. The tray 53 forms a simple means for removing the paper 52 from the carton 10 since the width of the tray 53 along the scoring lines 37 to 40 is approximately equal to the inside width of the carton 10 along the scoring lines 31 to 35. The tray 53 will be of slightly less dimension than the width of the carton 10 so that it may be easily lifted from the carton 10 with the paper therein.

The tray 53 may be used for removing the remaining reams of paper from the carton 10 after the first reams which have been packed in the tray 53 have been disposed of. The tray 53 fills one-half of the cartons 10 and has a volume of substantially half of the carton 10.

The foregoing specifications sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claim.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

In combination, a carton having a cover and a tray therefor, said tray disposedin one end of said carton and adapted to enclose a volume of material substantially equal to one-half of the contents of said carton, said tray having sides substantially equal in width to one-half the width of an end of said carton and substantially equal in height to the depth of said carton, top members integrally attached to said tray sides, each being substantially equal in length to one-quarter the length of said carton, a flap integrally attached to each said top member and adapted to be folded flat parallel to said top members or to be disposed in upwardly inclined relation and in engagement with each other, said top members converging toward each other when a load is lifted by said flaps,

and a hand receiving opening in each said flap adjacent the upper edge thereof spaced above the connection between said flap and said cover a substantial distance and registering with each other and the upper edge of each said opening being in engagement with the corresponding upper edge of the other said opening when said flaps are disposed in inwardly and upwardly converging relation with each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

